It's That Time of Year Again!

My sister knows this lady who has an apple orchard, and every year she gets boxes and boxes of apples from her. They are small, but very sweet and tasty. Noel shares with whomever can take some, so I always get as many as I can handle. This year I got four big boxes full – my garage smells so nice right now!

Last year, we made so much Apple Sauce that we still have plenty left over, so this year, we’re doing things a bit different.

First, we made some Apple Pie Filling and canned it in quart size jars. That requires each apple to be peeled and cut into pieces – a very tedious task made easier by setting up a table in the living room and putting a good movie on while I peeled and sliced all night. Bryan had the big pot on the stove going, cooking the apples as I cut them, and then canning the results when it was time. The effort is well worth it, though, as I like to put it over my sourdough pancakes throughout the winter months! Very tasty! Sorry I didn’t get any pictures of me doing this.

Then we juiced the rest of it – or rather, I should say we ARE juicing the rest of it. We’re not done yet – still have at least another box to go. For juice you at least don’t have to peel the apples, you just cut them into quarters (or there abouts – just want to break the skin so the inside is accessible) and throw them into the juicer. The steam eventually extracts all the juice out of them all; takes a couple hours for that to happen. But we keep adding more and more apples to the juicer, so we have to add more water to the steamer.

Eventually it just won’t take any more apples, so we remove all the pulp and set aside all the juice. The pulp gets run through the hand mill to mush it all up and extract the skin and core. The edible results of that can either be Apple Sauce or – just for something different to try – this year I’m going to put it in my dehydrator and make Fruit Leather out of it! I’ve never done that before, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out.

Once the juice cools down a bit, we can it with the intent of later on trying our hand at making Hard Cider (an alcoholic drink). Bryan is leaving for a week to attend a work conference down in Vegas, so we have to wait until he gets back to do that. But I think I can do the Fruit Leather while he’s gone.

So, that’s what I’ve been doing lately!